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Jonzy · May 27, 2006, 01:59 PM

My furnace blower recently started making a loud, low, steady train like noise every time it comes on. It is not a higher pitched squeek, but more like an engine. It is moving air and the cage is spinning. My furnace is supposed to be a perm lubricated motor.

Help!

I have the blower motor and thermostat turned off until I can figure it out.

letmetellu · May 27, 2006, 09:26 PM

I am guessing that your blower is a direct drive blower, meaning that the blower wheel is attacthed directly to the motor shaft. The way you described the noise leads me to believe that the motor bearings are bad. This is the most common reason for noise coming from the blower compartment. About the only remedy to this is to replace the motor. You say that you motor is permanatly oiled, that is just a waay of saying that it can not be oiled and not being oiled is what causes them to wear out. I don't know what kind of furnace you have but in my area is it is a standard furnace and a regular sized motor and a normal instulatioln the price range for the complete job would be somewhere around $230.00. If you had access to buying the motor and a capacitor you would get by for around about $125 to $150. Post if you need more Information. Hope this helps.
One last thought, with the furnace unpluged feel all around in the blower wheel to make sure that something has not been sucked into the blower wheel and it might be rubbing on something. Use a flashlight and look very good.

fordguy2 · Jun 28, 2009, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by Jonzy

My furnace blower recently started making a loud, low, steady train like noise everytime it comes on. It is not a higher pitched squeek, but more like an engine. It is moving air and the cage is spinning. My furnace is supposed to be a perm lubricated motor.

Help!

I have the blower motor and thermostat turned off until I can figure it out.

My blower makes the same sound. I took the motor/fan assembly out. Nothing is loose and the fan turns freely. I turned the fan on and it blows freely without noise but when I partially cover the exhaust opening it vibrates and starts making the noise again. I've checked the A/C refrigerant radiator thingy that is above where the blower exits and it had a lot of dust/dirt/hair covering it. I cleaned that all off. There doesn't appear to be anything else blocking the flow of air. I had replaced the blower motor about six months ago, so I don't think that is the problem. It has worked just fine until about a week ago, and then it started making this noise. It was after I noticed that hardly any cold air was coming out of the registers. I pulled the cover off the "AC radiator thingy" and a bunch of frost was totally covering the entire thing, so I let that defrost overnight. Now I still get this noise and I'm stumped. The only other thing I could think of was the fan being out of balance, but I don't see any way to adjust this.

Huck01 · Jan 30, 2010, 07:17 AM

The regulator could be freezing.

jpwasko · Aug 22, 2010, 01:38 PM

Here is what I found, my TRANe XE80 blower was making the same noise. I have a friend that looked at my furnace, we started the motor after detaching the Squirrel cage, the motor was quiet as could be. Upon further inspection, we learned the cage is spinning freely from the hub, and it makes the clicking noise. Check the Squirrel cage to ensure the cage does not spin freely from the hub.

ma0641 · Aug 22, 2010, 01:43 PM

Some Goodman/Amana units mount the motor to the blower housing with a 3 point mount, welded to the motor-Chinese-. If top point breaks or fatigue cracks, lots of vibration. Crummy mounting system, can't repair for a 3 cent strap.

wmproop · Aug 22, 2010, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by Jonzy

My furnace blower recently started making a loud, low, steady train like noise everytime it comes on. It is not a higher pitched squeek, but more like an engine. It is moving air and the cage is spinning. My furnace is supposed to be a perm lubricated motor.

Help!

I have the blower motor and thermostat turned off until I can figure it out.

I`ve also seen some make this same noise when the blower wheel is out of balance,sometims a simple piece of paper or small amount of fiberglass from the filter can cause a headache, just get down and closefeel around a see if you can find anything, can`t hurt or cost any money

nessa61 · Sep 4, 2010, 07:17 PM

My central unit makes a loud noise when it comes on but pushes a lot of air what would cause this and can I continue to run my unit

nessa61 · Sep 4, 2010, 07:18 PM

My central unit makes a loud noise when it comes on can I continue to run the unit and what would cause this

dbbba · Dec 23, 2010, 08:00 AM

My unit makes the same sound when my filters are dirty and need replacing. When I put new filters in the sound stops. It is a dirty filter warning you are hearing, that's why you are not finding anything wrong with the motor. :)

Georgetbltennis · Jan 13, 2011, 05:40 PM

Our furnace blower was getting very loud as well with the occasional screech. I'm not very mechanical but it was simple enough to remove the blower (sometimes referred to as: squirrel cage) and brought it to a furnace company. The friendly owner replaced the worn shaft and badly worn bearings; all I had to do was hook it back up again... I didn't think the $110 bill was excessive (especially since he had to pick up the parts from his supplier) for our 26 year old blower. Now it purrs like a kitten.
Grandpa George

fgaines · Jan 20, 2011, 04:26 PM

My furnace making loud nosie. I guess it's the cage that hold the blower. One side was loose, tighen the screw, the other side the hole is bigger than the screw. Help...

ma0641 · Jan 20, 2011, 07:45 PM

Please do not post on an old thread, few people read them. Repost "ask" a question, not answering. Thanks

Tamaratech7 · Jan 25, 2011, 07:17 PM

We had same problem and had to replace motor. They have to order it and will replace tomorrow. They also thought we cleaned our own furnace because was so clean for 13yrs old. But we don't clean it. Must be because l keep the house spotless. Also they said we were luckly that we didn't have to replace heat exchange because it would have been another 6 - $800.00.

Tamaratech7 · Jan 25, 2011, 07:22 PM

Btw it cost us approx $700.00 to fix. Will get bill tomorrow. Time to sell the house!

ReddRyder · Nov 10, 2011, 06:59 PM

Asked by Jonzy On May 27, 2006
Share this question:
My furnace blower recently started making a loud, low, steady train like noise every time it comes on. It is not a higher pitched squeek, but more like an engine. It is moving air and the cage is spinning. My furnace is supposed to be a perm lubricated motor.

Thanks to this site I was able to fix my furnace. I had the same sounds coming from my blower as Jonzy. I took it apart and figured it had to be the bearings in the motor because the shaft had a bit of in-and-out play. I ordered a new motor but found that the new motor had the same in-and-out play, and the noise was even louder.

I then washed out the blower wheel and cleaned inside the compartment. That wasn't it either. I finally went back online and found a blower wheel, installed it, and 'voila'.

Cost me a bit more than I should have paid, but, I imagine quite a bit less than a repairman.
Motor = $79.00
Capacitor = 5.00
Blower Wheel= 95.00 made in the USA

Thank you, all, for your unselfish advice.

tmb3203 · Nov 13, 2011, 10:17 PM

The center hub can come loose from the blades and spin causing a loud "engine" sound. Its very hard to see it happening when it is running but if you look at the center hub where the blades attach to the center drive hub you will see scarring where the hub was spinning faster than the blade assembly. Don't be confused, the motor shaft isn't spinning inside the hub. The hub itself is not holding the louvered blades firmly. The blades are pressed into place and come loose with time. Just a poor design. Don't know of any real long term fix other than replacing the blower. :(

smithkp · Dec 25, 2011, 01:28 AM

My blower is not turning making a noise like a dryer timer

JohnGault · Feb 12, 2012, 06:15 PM

I had a similar noise emanating from my geo-thermal unit. It turned out to be air traveling past loose insulation. A little duct tape over the leaky seam cured the noise, but if the filter is dirty it would also cause a higher suction pressure and more air infiltration. Pull the filter and experiment with it out. It would be an easy test.A stethescope might also help locate the source.

cartrell Howard · Jul 2, 2012, 07:14 PM

I have a Lennox G40UH(X) Series and its making a loud stead noise when the unit is on.. I took the blower assembly out and checked all around and started the blower motor assembly part out and ran the unit with out it.. And the blower assembly ran well while been out of the unit fine.. But when I place it back and the noise continue... Could you please help with this problem...